Characters from the Mario & Luigi series. Entries on the eponymous duo can be found here and allies from other games can be found here. Entries on Bowser, Kamek, and the rest of Bowser's minions aside from the Elite Trio can be found here. Birdo is found here.

For simplicity's sake, entries for Recurring Characters are listed under the games in which they first appeared.

The good-natured ruler of the Beanbean Kingdom, Queen Bean was driven to a mad rampage when Cackletta infected her with a worm. She is eventually snapped out of it by the Bros.

100% Adoration Rating: She is apparently quite beloved by her subjects, which is shown during Dream Team's Chain of Deals when you must give a photo of Queen Bean to a homesick Beanish to cheer him up.

Abnormal Ammo: When her arms are taken out as a boss, she spits beans at the Bros. to attack.

Shockwave Stomp: As a boss, she can pound the ground with her fists to create a shockwave.

Lady Lima

Queen Bean's cloaked advisor who helps the brothers after they free her from the bowels of the castle. Cackletta disguised herself as her and used her appearance to not only steal Peach's voice, but also trick the Brothers into disabling the security system around the Beanstar, thus getting the plot started.

Beta Couple: With Toadsworth, as indicated by the last cutscene showing the two hugging affectionately before he has to return to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Milking the Giant Cow: Waves her arms in a wizard-like fashion sometimes when saying something dramatic or when agitated.

Rescue Introduction: She is first met for real (by both the characters and the player) when the Mario Bros. unlock her jail cell. The fact that she talks to them as if she has just met them for the first time is also the first clear indication that the "Lady Lima" you met earlier was actually a fake.

Treacherous Advisor: Averted; the "Lady Lima" who betrays you is actually Cackletta, whereas the real Lima helps direct the brothers on where to go next, and helps successfully run the Beanbean kingdom.

Starshade Bros.

Two Toad brothers who diligently scout out Stardust Fields. They teach Mario and Luigi the High and Spin Jump moves.

A large-toothed pterosaur who inhabits Hoohoo Mountain. Initially found tending an egg on the mountain's peak (revealed to hold Peasley in the form of Dragohoho), he later flies the Bros. up to the peak whenever they want.

Eccentric Beanish brothers, Bubbles is a Chuckola brewer who has been telling the Chuckola Reserve many jokes for many, many years, while Boddle is a Yoshi enthusiast who is planning to open Yoshi Theater.

A large, speech-impaired, sidestepper-like hermit crab who lives in Gwarhar Lagoon. He finds a piece of the Beanstar after it breaks apart and with help from his Beanish friends uses it as a star for his Christmas-themed shell.

Attention Whore: His posse are so elated by the Bros. appearance, that they stop decorating his shell and begin gushing. He then loses it and attacks the two.

A Wicked Witch who has long bedeviled the Beanbean Kingdom, Cackletta learned that only one with a beautiful voice could use the wish-granting artifact known as the Beanstar... so she and her eccentric henchman, Fawful, turned to the neighboring Mushroom Kingdom to steal the voice of its monarch, Princess Peach. Big mistake—the Mario Bros. were on the case in a heartbeat.

Halfway through the game, Mario & Luigi confront Cackletta and successfully defeat her. She nearly dies from the fight, but Fawful saves her by absorbing her soul with her headgear. Shortly afterward, Fawful projects her soul into an unconscious Bowser's body, reviving her as Bowletta.

Death from Above: When Bowletta is low on health, it will start using an attack which causes star-shaped projectiles to rain down. The stars are Color-Coded for Your Convenience - the red ones are aimed at Mario, the green ones are aimed at Luigi, and the purple ones don't hit anyone and are just for show.

Demonic Possession: Cackletta's body dies about halfway through the game, but her spirit possesses Bowser, creating the mind-scarring... thing... that is Bowletta.

Disc One Final Boss: She manages to play this to herself — she's fought and defeated in her original body halfway through the game, which you're briefly led to believe is the end, but then she comes back as Bowletta...

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: After the bros. seemingly defeat Bowletta, a Time Bob-Omb walks on screen and instantly KOs them. Bowletta then swallows them whole, and the bros. are forced to fight Cackletta's ghost inside Bowser's body.

Our Ghosts Are Different: The final enemy Mario and Luigi face in Superstar Saga is Cackletta's ghost, possessing Bowser.

Out-Gambitted: Quite possibly the only reason her plans failed was because Peach had been warned well ahead of time that she'd be after her voice for awakening the Beanstar, so she set up a decoy.

Playing with Fire: She can throw magical fireballs. As Bowletta, she gains Bowser's fire abilities.

Portable Hole: Can create this to make the Mario Bros. fall inside and take damage.

Punny Name: In both English and Japanese; in the latter her name is "Geragemōna", "geragera" being an onomatopoeia for laughter. Her localized name refers to cackling, which she does in fact do (being a wicked witch and all).

Sequential Boss: The final battle has two phases. The first phase is the fight with Bowletta. For the second phase, she eats the Mario Bros., and they fight her spirit inside Bowser's belly.

Shock and Awe: Her main attack in the first battle is firing magical lightning bolts.

Slasher Smile: As Bowletta, her default expression is a toothy, demonic grin.

Summon Magic: Her spirit is capable of summoning an apparition that resembles Fawful, which will continuously attack the Mario Bros. until they hit it with their hammer.

Take Over the World: Or at least two kingdoms. She was probably planning on expanding, eventually.

Turns Red: When Bowletta is low on health, it will change its color palette will change to mostly black. In this state, Bowletta cannot be jumped on, and she gets a new attack where she causes a bunch of stars to fall on the bros.

Vacuum Mouth: She does this to Mario and Luigi after the first phase of the final battle, then proceeds to tenderize them before her soul devours them whole.

Walking Spoiler: Not so much Cackletta on her own as Bowletta, the form she takes midway through the game upon being killed and then possessing Bowser.

A crazed inventor who constantly spouts strange similes and garbled English, he first appeared as Cackletta's right-hand man, aiding her in her schemes. He was seemingly killed near the end of Superstar Saga, but in fact survived, laying low in the sewers of Peach's Castle, running a badge shop while plotting his return to glory. He carried out these plans in Bowser's Inside Story, returning as the main antagonist, causing the Blorb outbreak, and taking control of both Bowser's and Peach's castles, as well as unearthing an ancient evil in order to use its power for his own ends. Of course, in taking Bowser's Castle, he angered the Koopa King; a mistake that ultimately led to his downfall.

Advancing Boss of Doom: During the fight with the Dark Star Core, Fawful will shroud the area in darkness then chase Mario and Luigi while the Dark Star Core flings itself at Mario or Luigi.

A God Am I: His ultimate goal in Bowser's Inside Story was to absorb the power of the Dark Star and take over the Mushroom Kingdom.

Badass Bookworm: A skilled inventor, a competent schemer, and more than capable of handling himself in a fight if he has to (as long as he has his vacuum helmet).

Dangerously Genre Savvy: Most of Bowser's Inside Story is basically him demonstrating that he can stay one step ahead of Bowser, Mario, and Luigi and remain in control from start to finish. Cackletta has taught him well.

I Shall Taunt You: Loves to excessively taunt and ridicule his enemies, almost to the point of trolling them. His constant target is Bowser, who he goes out of his way to enrage.

It's All About Me: Showed shades of this in Superstar Saga. He had a literal camera crew during the cutscene before his final battle. Bowser's Inside Story took this trope Up to Eleven and beyond with him turning Bowser's castle into Fawful Theater, complete with statues and merchandise of him, a show about him that he would perform, and brainwashing Bowser's minions into treating him like a celebrity. And his speech at the end of Inside Story can be summed up as "it wasn't my fault. I did everything right! It was you Mario Bros. who ruined everything! And if I'm going down, I'm Taking You with Me!"

Killed Off for Real: He dies at the end of Bowser's Inside Story and makes no appearance in Dream Team.

Make My Monster Grow: During the fight with Dark Bowser, Fawful can revive Dark Bowser when his health is depleted and double his normal size. And when he fights the Mario Bros., he grows to a towering insect monster.

Malevolent Mugshot: Good God! The guy has statues of himself everywhere in Bowser and Peach's castle.

Meaningful Name: His name is derived from the words "guffaw" and "awful". His Japanese name "Gerakobits", just like his boss's, comes from "geragera", an onomatopoeia for laughter.

Noble Demon: In Bowser's Inside Story, when Bowser arrives just as they are attempting to break the seal on the Dark Star, Midbus prepares to fight him. Fawful is uneasy about it at first and decides to fight alongside him. But he then changes his mind out of respect for Midbus's pride and instead powers him up with his ray gun to give him an edge.

No Cure for Evil: Averted. During his fight with Bowser, Fawful's Vacuum Helmet can periodically heal him unitl it's destroyed.

Not-So-Harmless Villain: His defeat in Superstar Saga reduced him to a lowly shopkeeper with delusions of grandeur and plans for revenge. Bowser's Inside Story sees him carrying out those plans and his rise to the Big Bad of the game.

In the Japanese version, Gerakobits punctuated his sentences with "~Fururururu!". This was changed drastically in the localization. The French localization keeps the tic in the form of an Evil Laugh that goes "Fuyuyuyuyuyuyu!".

In Superstar Saga, he has the tendency to call people "fink-rats." He only does it once in Bowser's Inside Story.

A criminal and self proclaimed 'Shadow Thief', from Beanbean who encountered the brothers several times. Has no ties to the main villains but becomes a nuisance with the help of his incredibly dangerous sidekicks.

Badass Normal: Has no special abilities, but manages to pose a threat, with or without backup.

Bash Brothers: The only bosses that have their own Bros. Attacks are himself and Bowser.

Battle Couple: According to Birdo at least; Popple had his objections.

Thief Bag: Carries one. In battle he uses it to throw random stuff at Mario and Luigi.

Took a Level in Jerkass: He was never kind to his rookies, but as of Dream Team he puts them in harm's way to save his skin, then betrays them when the opportunity strikes. Of course, since this time his "rookies" are the Mario Bros. themselves, it doesn't end well for him.

When All You Have Is a Hammer: His attacks are limited to tackling, stealing, and throwing loot. Dangerous enough against the Mario Bros., but completely useless against a Wiggler.

Tolstar

An odd creature who rules over the Stardust Fields, the border between the two kingdoms. After Bowser's Koopa Cruiser is brought down by Fawful, The Koopa King lands in one of Tolstar's cannons. He asks for a bribe in return for not telling anyone about the incident, but since the Mushroom Kingdom's currency exchange rate is low, the Bros. have to scour the Fields to scrounge up enough money.

Arc Villain: Keeps Mario and Luigi from exiting Stardust Fields, indirectly causes Bowser's amnesia, and vouches for the Bros. to the Beanbean soldiers, then is not heard from for the rest of the game.

Evil Laugh: "Nyeck nyeeck nyeeeeck!" Not only is he one of few characters to have a distinct laugh, it's also an attack indicator.

Fat Bastard: He mocks Bowser for getting stuck in his cannon and refuses to help him out unless the Mario Bros. pay him 100 Beanbean coins. Even after the bros. do give him the coins, he double-crosses them and attacks them.

Flight: He is somehow capable of this despite the fact that his wings look way too small to lift him.

Heel-Face Turn: After being beaten by the Mario Bros., he shows up later to vouch for the Bros. to the Beanbean soldiers to help let them through, despite not appearing to have any motivation for this.

Slasher Smile: gets a particularly good one whenever he laughs, complete with blank happy eyes.

Bag of Holding: He can hold an absurd amount of materials. Made most apparent with the Cobalt Star, which has a graphical field sprite even bigger than his despite it being stored within him for most of the game.

Neologism: His main speech quirk is a tendency to take at least two words, either of which would be appropriate for a certain context, and then combine them into some new word.

Point of No Return: Subverted thanks to him. During the endgame, he warns you that it's the point of no return, but at any save point thereafter, he gives you the option of going back in time to before you passed the point, giving you the option to go and get better prepared.

A friendly, spunky Koopa Troopa who the Mario Bros. first meet as a reporter for the Koopa Kronicle covering the ongoing Shroob Invasion while also helping the plumbers in their fight against the invaders. She returns in Dream Team as a tourist guide writer who tasks the Bros. with retrieving pictures from the Camera Blocks she scattered across Pi'illo Island.

Big Damn Heroes: At one point saves the Mario Bros. by disguising herself as a Shroob, and blasting a group of real ones with one of their own ray guns.

Older Than They Look: She doesn't appear to have aged a day between Partners in Time and Dream Team despite at least a 30 year time gap.

Seen It All: Upon meeting her again in Dream Team, Mario and Luigi try to remind her of her helping them during the Shroob Invasion when she was a reporter, only for her to state that she's had too many jobs to remember that one in particular. That's right, her life has been so eventful that witnessing the near-destruction of the Mushroom Kingdom by alien invaders and getting turned into a mushroom were all comparatively unmemorable.

Tagalong Reporter: She follows the Mario Bros. around knowing that they're Shroob magnets.

Toadiko

A female Toad who accompanied Princess Peach and Toadbert in Professor Gadd's time machine. She was promptly captured by the Shroobs to have her vim extracted. She is found being drained by a tree in Toadwood Forest, where she tell the Mario Bros. about the Vim Factory before being turned into a Shroob Mushroom.

Sacrificial Lamb: Her character exists almost entirely to establish how evil the Shroobs are and how their actions will affect everyone if they are not defeated quickly. Even though she recovers later.

Toadbert

A spectacled Toad who accompanied Princess Peach and Toadiko in Professor Gadd's time machine. He escapes the Shroobs but loses his memory. He is later found inside Yoob's gut on Yoshi's Island, where he shows the Mario Bros. a sketch of his he was able to draw before his amnesia. He reappears in Bowser's Inside Story as one of the Toads who got inhaled by Bowser.

Amnesia Danger: His amnesia keeps him from telling the Mario Bros. of the important info about the sketch that has him so spooked. He gets Shroobified right after regaining his memories, only able to tell the Bros. to clean off the image but without being able to explain the full significance of it.

Demoted to Extra: He's not nearly as important to the plot in Bowser's Inside Story as he was in Partners In Time.

A Thwomp couple who have traveled to Thwomp Volcano to witness its yearly eruption; when they find the Mario Bros. are more or less responsible for the volcano being quenched, Mrs. Thwomp gets mad and attacks them. Once she calms down, Mr. Thwomp helps them into Thwomp Caverns by acting as an elevator. While Mr. Thwomp looks just like a regular Thwomp, Mrs. Thwomp looks like a round boulder with arms.

A militant race of mushroom-like aliens who abandoned their dead, barren planet in favor of greener pastures, laying their eyes on the Mushroom Kingdom of the past. When they attacked Peach's Castle while the adult Princess Peach happened to be visiting in E. Gadd's time machine, they took her prisoner, driving the Mario Bros. to travel back in time and team up with their younger selves in order to defeat the invaders.

Alien Invasion: They successfully invade and conquer the Mushroom Kingdom of the past.

Aliens Are Bastards: They take great joy in commiting numerous acts of dickery over the course of the game.

Aliens Speaking English: Averted, except in the case of Elder Princess Shroob, who can speak normally (but in ALL CAPS).

Great Offscreen War: Implied to have had one with the Koopa-Troop in the interim between Partners In Time and Bowser's Inside Story. They lost.

Hopeless Boss Fight: Adult Mario and Luigi vs. three Shroobs near the beginning of the game. The Shroobs are aided by a giant bomb-carrying UFO that destroys the brothers after three turns, making the fight impossible to win. The babies pay them back later.

Human Popsicle: In Bowser's Inside Story, numerous Shroobs can be found frozen in Bowser's basement.

The main antagonist of Partners In Time. She led the Shroob invasion of Mushroom Kingdom in a bid to find a new home for her race as theirs was in danger or dying. When Princess Peach traveled in time to visit the Mushroom Kingodom, Princess Shroob captured her in a bid to take over the Mushroom Kingdom of the present, an act that unfortunately put her in the crosshairs of the Mario Bros.

A Glass of Chianti: As the picture shows, she is occasionally seen drinking a strange beverage.

Aliens Speaking English: Averted. Like the rest of the Shroobs, she speaks their language. Though at later points of the game, her speech is translated via parenthesis.

Ax-Crazy: Next to Dimentio, she's possibly the most psychopathic villain in the Mario series.

Big Bad: The leader of the Shroobs, and thus, the main antagonist. Her older sister, the actual leader, was sealed inside the Cobalt Star by Peach, so she takes over until her death.

Hair-Trigger Temper: Princess Shroob has a bit of a short fuse and gets mad when things don't go her way. And when the gang shoots down her mothership and destroys the tower made in her image, she completely loses it.

The Heavy: Though her sister is the true leader of the Shroobs, Peach's intervention meant that she was the one to spearhead the invasion effort.

Knight of Cerebus: She lacks comedic traits and not only manages to take over the Mushroom Kingdom of the past, but very nearly does the same to that of the present.

Lack of Empathy: Feels no remorse for any of the things she's done, and doesn't seem to have any love for her sister as she made no attempt to free her from the Cobalt Star, nor showed any indication that she intended to.

Mask of Sanity: At first glance, one has the impression of a calm, controlled ruler. But hidden just below the surface is a sadistic, psychopathic monster that's waiting to be released. And once Mario and co. shoot down her mothership, the mask comes off.

Villainous Breakdown: When the Mario Bros. destroy her Mothership so it destroys the tower in Shroob Castle made in her image, she emerges from the wreckage furiously declaring that Peach is useless, the kingdom is hers, and she'll destroy everyone.

Well-Intentioned Extremist: She's supposedly doing this to find a new home for her race, but some of the other actions she does makes this trope fall flat.

Yoob

A Shroob-created monster resembling a Yoshi, it is found going around eating Yoshis on Yoshi's Island.

Swallowed Whole: Does this to the Yoshis, Baby Bowser, and both pairs of Mario Bros.

The Unfought: Yoob itself is never actually fought at any point. A fight with giant-sized Yoob wouldn't have worked out since giant battles hadn't been introduced yet, but you don't even fight it when it's normal size. Instead, the bros. get eaten, explore its insides, stop the production of its eggs (which are its fuel) by defeating Sunnycide, and it simply ceases functioning, never to reawaken.

Womb Level: The Mario Bros. have to traverse its innards to rescue the Yoshis and find the Cobalt Star shard.

Elder Princess Shroob

"I LAUGH AT YOU. MUSHROOM HEADS. PATHETIC THINGS. YOU GATHERED THE COBALT STAR SHARDS WITHOUT EVER GUESSING THE TRUTH! NOW I AM FREE! AND THAT HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE COBALT STAR IS NO MORE!"

The actual leader of the Shroobs and the sister of Princess Shroob. She and her sister led the Shroob invasion in a bid to find a new home for her race. During which they encountered Princess Peach, who traveled to the past. Peach managed to seal her in the Cobalt Star before being captured herself.

Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite being an even bigger monster than Princess Shroob, Elder Princess Shroob indicates that she thinks positively of her, complimenting her late sister and declaring that she will avenge her right before the battle.

Lack of Empathy: Just like her sister. She'll casually smack her own people aside as soon as they've done her will.

Manipulative Bitch: Masquerades as the benevolent spirit of the Cobalt Star to trick the Bros. into freeing her. Peach told them the real story but she still managed to be released thanks to Baby Bowser.

No Indoor Voice: Considering her text is in ALL CAPS, it's not hard to imagine that everything she says is shouted.

One-Winged Angel: For her second phase, she transforms into a giant, tentacled monster.

Shielded Core Boss: All attacks directed at her body (which is the main target) will do 1 damage until her crown is destroyed. On top of that, her crown cannot be targeted until her leg tentacles are destroyed. Both of these will regenerate after a few turns.

Stronger Sibling: Much stronger than Princess Shroob- she doesn't even need a machine to fight!

A little yellow ball of a creature who is sent to assist Princess Peach and the Mario Bros. as a representative of the Star Sprites, the beings who watch over the Mushroom Kingdom. In Dream Team, she is also sent to represent the Star Sprites on Pi'illo Island, though how exactly is never specified. Whenever Mario heads into the Dream World, she stays behind to do things to Luigi like pull his mustache and tickle his nose in order to alter things in the dream. While she is openly annoyed by Luigi's cowardice, she gradually warms up to him as she sees more examples of his heroism.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: This element of her personality is most apparent in her dealings with Luigi. In Dream Team, she initially expresses frustration with his Heavy Sleeper habits (partly out of jealousy that he can sleep so easily, and partly because him falling asleep on Dreambert led to Peach getting kidnapped in the first place). However, she shows concern for him later on when he is forced to sleep on the frigid summit of Mount Pajamaja, lighting the nearby furnace to keep him warm and demonstrating that she does ultimately care for his well-being.

Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: She is only visually distinguishable as female thanks to the long eyelash marks on her beady eyes. However, these eyelashes aren't visible on her in-game sprite and dialogue references to her as female are surprisingly few in number. During Dream Team, you can see the eyelashes when she's Luigi-sitting.

Waddling Head: Well, the "waddling" part is absent, considering that she spends the whole time flying around, but she still fits the "round object with feet" part of the trope.

Broque Monsieur

A member of the Brock race, who resemble the Blocks frequently seen in the Mario games, Broque is a block collector who has set up a shop in the Mushroom Kingdom where Bowser can buy stuff. In contrast to most other good characters in the Super Mario Bros. franchise, he is not friendly to the Mario Bros., as he disapproves of their block-hitting escapades. He returns in Dream Team as the head of Pi'illo Island's tourism business, where he is slightly more amicable toward the plumbers. In public at least.

Badass Mustache: Has two which can double as eyebrows thanks to his odd detachable head.

Right Behind Me: In Dream Team, you can walk in on him ranting about the Mario Bros. to his coworkers.

Training Boss: He willingly lets Bowser wail on him and suck him up to teach him the Vacuum Block mechanics.

Broggy

Broque Monsieur's rather ferocious dog.

Angry Guard Dog: He is Bowser's final special attack in Bowser's Inside Story. He also acts this way towards the Mario Bros.

Demoted to Extra: In Bowser's Inside Story, he's a Training Boss, the cashier of Bowser's gear shop, and Bowser's final special attack. In Dream Team, he appears briefly to invite the Mushroom Kingdomites to Pi'illo Island before disappearing entirely.

The Artifact: Goomp's pajamas and Paraplonk's Bucket Helmet were originally used to indicate that they had been caught off guard by Fawful's takeover, yet they're still wearing those items in Dream Team, where they would've had plenty of time to scrounge together something more practical.

Big Freaking Cannon: Sergeant Guy mans a pretty big Bullet Bill cannon in the boss battle with the Elite Trio in Dream Team. This was also what they (and Bowser) tried to use in order to launch an attack against Bowser's Castle in Bowser's Inside Story.

Deadly Dodging: True of all enemies, but their giant Bob-Omb attack deserves special mention since it is easy to dodge and deals massive damage even to themselves. It is quite probable players will win the battle simply by letting them KO themselveswith that move.

Doppelgänger Attack: Sergeant Guy can use his magic rod to transform the Goombas under Private Goomp into identical copies of himself, who will run around in an attempt to confuse Mario and get some hits in. It's stopped at the end, or if you manage to hit the real Sergeant Guy.

Easily Forgiven: Bowser allows them back into the army assuming that they pull their weight in defeating Mario.

Et Tu, Brute?: They betray Bowser in Bowser's Inside Story, and the ending confirms that they did it willingly.

Exposition Fairy: Corporal Paraplonk acts as this during the first Giant Bowser Battle.

Heel-Face Revolving Door: They start out on Bowser's side, defect to Fawful willingly, then defect back, only to collectively try to become The Starscream in Dream Team, then give up that idea after the Mario Bros. deal them a sound thrashing.

The Medic: Corporal Paraplonk, who regularly heals his comrades with mushrooms during the battle with them.

Mighty Glacier: In Dream Team, Sergeant Guy has the most HP and POW, but is the slowest of the bunch.

Pajama Clad Hero: Seems to be the case with Private Goomp, who is always seen with blue pajamas and nightcap.

Puzzle Boss: You have to defeat all three at the same time to win the boss battle.

Rank Up: They all are promoted to Elite rank in the army as of Dream Team. This doesn't last too long once they're trounced by Mario and Luigi. Hell, they even ditch their "Elite" equipment for their less-surprising equipment when you see them again.

Shout-Out: Their ranks and coloration are the same as three chraracters in Sgt. Frog (respectively Tamama, Giroro and Keroro).

A caterpillar creature resembling both Wiggler and Birdo that causes Bowser extreme pain after he accidentally swallowed it while eating the Giga Carrot, forcing Mario and Luigi to attack it. Later revealed to be Wisdurm, one of the Star Sages holding a Star Cure.

Chekhov's Gunman: No one would have guessed she was a Star Sage during his first appearance.

Heart Beat-Down: She can conjure a heart shaped stone during her second fight. The image on it signifies which of the Bros it's goting to hit.

Interface Screw: During her star attack in the second fight, she can switch Mario and Luigi's positions to confuse the player.

Punny Name: Most translations make his name some sort of pun on "puzzle."

Chakron

An octopoid ascetic meditating on top of a mountain near Plack Beach, he is first introduced as the creator of the Chakroads that Bowser can use to teleport across the Mushroom Kingdom. Later, he is revealed to hold one of the Star Cures, which he agrees to give to Mario and Luigi if they can somehow break him out of the meditative pose he has held constantly for 1,000 years.

Nigh Invulnerable: He quite simply cannot be damaged; he has 999 DEFnote as well as attack and speed, in fact, but they're immaterial since he never takes action and winning the "battle" just requires using a specific Special Attack.

Antagonists

Midbus

"Now it is time! Now we will fight! Then you will lose! And you will cry!"

With Fawful's ascension to primary villain, it's only natural that he'd get a lackey of his very own. This porcine brute may be a rather dim bulb, but his strength rivals even that of the King of Koopas himself. He antagonizes Bowser throughout the game on his master's orders, until he is at last defeated for good in the final stages.

Foil: Presumably to Bowser. Unlike Bowser, who's king and leader of a Badass Army of minions, Midbus is merely a minion of Fawful. Both are physically imposing Mix-and-Match Critters, but Bowser leans more on the reptile side aesthetically, while Midbus looks more like a warmblooded animal. Finally, Bowser can breathefire, while Midbus gains ice powers in his final battle.

Flunky Boss: He can send out Snawfuls once he becomes Blizzard Midbus.

Intentional Engrish for Funny: Fawful has seemingly passed on his manner of speaking to him. Though in comparison to Fawful, his is not that bad. It sounds more like those badly translated kung-fu movies.

Noble Demon: Has shades of this. During his fight with Bowser in Cavi Cape, he calls off the match when it appears Bowser is weakened by the Vacuum Shroom. He goes as far as to criticize Bowser for fighting him while giant, and being roasted doesn't change his attitude.

No Cure for Evil: Aversion; in the cage match, he can heal himself by eating food tossed by audience members, if Bowser doesn't get to it first. His Snawfuls will also heal and power him up if they're left alone in his final battle.

"Soon this kingdom will vanish along with all who dwell within. And you, too, will sleep eternally in the dark power's embrace!"

A being of pure evil that terrorized the Mushroom Kingdom in the distant past, but was eventually sealed away. Fawful unearthed it and attempted to drain its power, but the dark entity proved too powerful for him to handle; it consumed him and, after copying Bowser's DNA, transformed into a shadowy double known as Dark Bowser.

Eldritch Abomination: No one knows where it came from or what it is other than it's just pure evil. It can turn into a copy of others by entering their body and eating their DNA. And it's evil is so oppressive that Mario and Luigi nearly choke to death just by being in its presence.

Evil Is Not a Toy: Subverted. The Dark Star overpowers Fawful to regain the energy he had absorbed from it, consuming Fawful along with it. However, the two seem to form a mutually beneficial, if not somewhat symbiotic, relationship, with Fawful powering up Dark Bowser from within during its fight with the real Bowser, and the Dark Star's core lending its energy and assistance to Fawful in his own battle against Mario and Luigi.

Final Boss: Dark Bowser is this for Bowser, while the Dark Star Core is this for Mario & Luigi.

Flunky Boss: In its first battle, it spawns bug-like enemies called Dark Satellmites to aid it.

For the Evulz: Possibly its only discernable motive for wanting to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom.

Frickin' Laser Beams: It uses dark laser attacks as both its original form and the core of Dark Bowser and its strongest attack blurs the line between this and Wave Motion Gun.

Generic Doomsday Villain: A rare dead-serious example. It desires nothing less than the total obliteration of everything in existence.

Knight of Cerebus: For most of Bowser's Inside Story, you get plenty of laughs from the eccentricity of Fawful and Midbus, along with Bowser's attempts to communicate with his brainwashed Koopa Troop. Then comes this thing, which is devoid of any humor and plans on destroying everything in its path.

Shielded Core Boss: Taken to an extreme in the final battle. First Bowser must deplete Dark Bowser's 1000 HPnote 1500 HP with the Challenge Medal, after which Dark Fawful will fully heal and enlarge him. Then Bowser must punch Dark Fawful out of Dark Bowser's belly and then inhale him. Then Mario & Luigi must destroy Dark Fawful's Cognizant Limbs in order to expose the true weak point, the Dark Star Core.

The Dark Star would be nearly impossible to defeat if it didn't keep spawning Dark Satellmites to aid it in battle.

In the final battle, if Dark Bowser didn't grow larger whenever Fawful revives him, Bowser wouldn't be able to target his belly, which causes him to spit out Fawful for Bowser to inhale and the Mario Bros. to defeat.

Taking You with Me: When Mario & Luigi deplete its HP in the Airway battle, you have to button mash to escape its kamikaze vacuum attack until it croaks.

The prince of the Pi'illos, he was Taken for Granite along with the rest of his people in the process of imprisoning Antasma with the Dark Stone. Upon being freed by the Mario Bros., joins up with them in order to rescue the other Pi'illos and defeat Antasma once and for all.

Arch-Enemy: He has the biggest beef with Antasma of all the hero characters.

Exposition Fairy: Shares this role with Starlow in the real world, takes over completely in the Dream World.

Face Fault: He does several along with the Mario Bros. The most notable one is when the Zeekeeper turns the remains of the Dream Stone into a bunch of coins; Dreambert plants on the ground so hard out of shock that he has trouble getting back up.

Royals Who Actually Do Something: Beyond being an Exposition Fairy and letting Luigi sleep on him to open dream portals, he absorbs the power of the dark roots growing in Neo Bowser Castle, directly fights with Antasma alone and later assists Mario in finishing off the villain.

Laser-Guided Karma: His unnecessary getaway from the brothers causes a whole lot of trouble in his beloved park. First, he gets stuck in the park's main attraction - a fountain - and then is pushed off using high water pressure, which also causes the fountain to skyrocket all the way above the island to break the player's top screen. Then, the fountain falls down on the park's maintenance robot which causes it to have a malfunction and go irate at the administrator's hut. Finally, Brickle tries to calm down his creation and is mercilessly tossed away like a ragdoll. When all it's over, he's crushed.

Long Pants: It's a little hard to tell if those are just high blue work boots or if those are also his pants.

A female Brock who works tirelessly in Dozing Sands to break rocks with her Shelltop crew. She is just like Brickle, but she's harsher to her employees, threatening to fire them at every chance she gets.

Distaff Counterpart: She's basically a female Brickle in terms of her personality and even her speech patterns.

The Dreaded: Her employees are deathly afraid of even accidentally making her angry.

Greed: She wants the treasure that she believes to be atop the sand flow the Mario Bros. are trying to get up, even ordering them to stay put while she goes forward.

Not Quite Dead: During the funny aftermath of being attacked and swallowed by Torkscrew. Her Shelltop workers see her lose consciousness and lament her apparent death as dramatic music plays and the screen starts fading to black, only for her to declare she's not dead.

Collection Sidequest: He hands out rewards for freeing increasing numbers of the petrified Pi'illos, culminating in the Zee Egg.

Everything's Better With Bunnies: Has a pet fluffy rabbit in the Dream World. Why that bunny was holding him captive in a nightmare chunk, running away from their potential rescuers is strange, but it could be because Dreamy Brickle was chasing the bunny itself.

Pals with Jesus: Turns out he's a good friend of the Zeekeeper, the island's legendary guardian deity.

Dream Stone Spirit

The spirit inhabiting the Dream Stone artifact that the heroes are trying to retrieve from Bowser and Antasma. It does not like being awoken from sleep.

Blow You Away: One of Robo-Drilldigger's attacks involves launching tornadoes.

Humongous Mecha: Robo-Drilldigger is formed by a bunch of gears and drills the Dream Stone's spirit pulls together, and it's the first Giant Luigi boss.

Jerk Ass: So you just want some information on where the real world Dream Stone is. Well, he'd be happy to... NOT TELL YOU! You still insist? SHADDUP! SHADDUP! GO TO SHADDUPVILLE! Oh, you've bumped into it with a Luigi stack? GET THE BIG GUNS OUT!

Light Is Not Good: One would expect the spirit of the Dream Stone to be benevolent. He's not. At all.

Hidden Depths: As tour guides of Mount Pajamaja, they feel the need to research parts of the mountain they never knew about beforehand just so that they can provide a greater experience to future tourists. In other words, they also happen to be scientists who specialize in anything that involves said mountain.

Recurring Element: Like with the Hammerhead Bros. and the Jellyfish Sisters in Superstar Saga and the Junior and Elder Shrooboids of Partners in Time, the elder sibling is red and the younger sibling is green.

Shockwave Stomp: Big Massif's most powerful attack. Also one of the chase attacks, so he will do it repeatedly!

Four seahorse-like creatures, these siblings live in Dreamy Driftwood Shore and help the Mario Bros. in their efforts to hide Peach from Bowser and Antasma by expanding the Dream World with their Dream Eggs. They consist of: Seadric, the eldest; Seabelle, a Valley Girl obsessed with her looks; Seatoon, a young boy obsessed with Saturday morning cartoons; and Seabury, a would-be stand-up comedian.

Ambiguously Gay: As said by Dreambert, Bedsmith likes to nap on people. But even the prince's reactions make this trope resurface. Doesn't help with Bedsmith swooning at every magnificent event and declaring that he needs to nap on the bros.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's the best there is when it comes to crafting beds, though his... weird behavior could lead you to believe otherwise.

A sacred rainbow-colored bird who is known as the protector of Pi'illo Island. It hasn't been seen in ages.

Broken Aesop: In the ending of the game, Zeekeeper says that the Dream Stone must never be used to achieve cheap goals the easy way and decides not to restore its dust to its original form... Shortly after, he transforms the dust into a large Dream Coin and breaks through it to shower the island with coins so as to pay himself with the absurd tab he imposed on Mario earlier.

Your Size May Vary: While it's common for RPG characters to appear at different sizes between the overworld and battles, the Zeekeeper deserves special attention as the Mario Bros. engage him in a Giant Battle even though he's not that big in the overworld. Of course, being a Physical God, he may have made himself bigger.

"SCREEEK! I vanted to steal Peach's power... but I changed my mind! You are much stronger... and evil! SCREEEONK! Vork vith me! SCREEEP!"

A living nightmare creature from the Dream World. During her visit to Pi'illo Island, Princess Peach is kidnapped by Antasma when Luigi opens a portal to the Dream World, causing the Mario Bros. to set out and rescue her. When Bowser appears, he proposes a partnership with the Koopa King to further his goals. This proves to be a mistake, since Bowser ends up stabbing him in the back at the end.

Advancing Boss of Doom: During the final battle, one of his attacks is to chase Mario while tossing explosive spheres at him. And if one of his attacks puts Mario to sleep, he can enter his dreams and chase him while spitting fireballs at him.

Composite Character: He's basically a combination of all the previous Mario and Luigi antagonists. (Cackletta, Dark Fawful, the Shroobs, and the Dark Star.)

Curb-Stomp Battle: The fight between him and Dreambert near the end starts out dead even, until he takes the fight to the Dream World where his power is at maximum. Dreambert is sent tumbling out of the Dream World in a heap just a few seconds later.

Dream Walker: Especially once he reveals that he now has the ability to create portals to the Dream World at will.

Dream Within a Dream: If Mario is hit Antasma's bat attack in the final battle with him, he'll fall asleep and Antasma will enter his dreams and chase him. The X version can induce this on ALL of his attacks.

Dropped a Bridge on Him: Well yes, you do get to fight and beat Antasma fair and square, but the issue is in the death itself. No villainous rant or Final Boss shenanigans like the unique villains in the last three games, he just... swells up and ultimately explodes like any other regular boss after defeat.

Evil Counterpart: Serves as one to Dreamy Luigi. The parallels between them are reflected perfectly in the fight with Bowser. Both characters are capable of manipulating the Dream World to their advantage. Both are capable of enhancing their allies abilities. And both can split into smaller clones of themselves.

Eviler Than Thou: Inverted. He finds out the hard way that Bowser was this to him.

From Nobody to Nightmare: Almost literally, as Antasma was originally a bat who became what he is after feeding on the nightmare of a Pi'illo.

Fusion Dance: Much like Dreamy Luigi, he can fuse together with others to make them more powerful. He does this in the first fight with Bowser.

The Heavy: Played with. He drives most of the plot along at the beginning, but after Neo Bowser Castle is summoned, most of the direct conflict comes from Bowser's Koopa Troop. Though he is talked about, Antasma only enters the stage again in the final parts of the game, along with Bowser.

Humiliation Conga: Betrayed by Bowser, mocked by Dreambert, and beaten by Mario all in the spam of a minute.

I Am A Humanitarian: During the final battle, he can trap Dreamy Luigi in one of his Antasmunchies, and if he happens to eat the one containing Dreamy Luigi, he'll become even more powerful than normal (And gain a green aura not unlike the one Mario gets when merging with Dreamy Luigi). Eventually he'll spit Dreamy Luigi back out, though.

Sphere of Power: An odd variation of the trope. During the final battle with him, he surrounds himself with black orbs called Antasmunchies that he can eat to power up his attacks. They can also be used as explosives and can come to life to protect him.

The Starscream: It's pretty obvious that he was going to double-cross Bowser the first chance he got. It's really too bad for him that Bowser saw the inevitable betrayal coming from a mile away and sunk the blade between his shoulders first.

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